Española, NM
Española, NM's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Española sits at the 76th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 5,657 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Española at the 72nd national percentile — 4 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
54.5% of Española's 5,657 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 29% Direct and 16.5% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone. At 5,657 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Española ranks
Inside New Mexico, Española sits at just the 49th percentile even though it scores 76th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Española ranks 7,442 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,055 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 254 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Española's 76th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Española
Española's 54.5% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Española's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Española's 7,442-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Española's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.